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Save the Species!

Now a days, there are many animals who are on verge of extinction. The count of those species is declining day by day due to the human’s various sly needs. Many animals are hunted down for their skins, teeth or bones which are then traded illegally in the market in the return of money. Sometimes, they are just being besieged for fun or pride.

There are many organisations, who are working hard to preserve such animal species who are disappearing. Mr. Ashok Mahindra, the author has recently come out with a wildlife based photo book “Capturing a wildlife moments in India”. The author has travelled to numerous national parks and sanctuaries around in India and have displayed 120 photographs of animals who are on verge of extinction in his book. The book highlights the rich heritage and a range of wildlife in India. It’s an educational book published by the Oxford University Press in an alliance with the Bombay Natural History Society.

Recently, SaevusWildlife (India’s premium wildlife and natural history web portal and magazine ) and Mr. Ashok Mahindra, the author, gave me an opportunity to create awareness among the people to preserve the endangered species before it is too late. If anyone asks me, which animals I would want to save, I would have answered, ALL. But, keeping in mind, the list of endangered or vulnerable species of animals provided to me, I think I would choose to conserve :

1. Bengal Tiger: Bengal tiger, also known as Royal tiger, is a national animal of India. One of the world’s largest cats, tigers are highly on the brink of extinction. They are classified as a highly endangered species in India. Many years ago, there were more than 1 lakh tigers in Asia, but now the count has decreased gradually and has come down to around 3000 out of which hardly 1411 number of tigers are left in India. They are being killed and their body parts are illegally traded in the exchange of money. Humans are making money and doing a business by killing many innocent animals. I know that Tigers are carnivores. They kill other animals to feed themselves and their family. Many of you must be wondering, why we should conserve them, if they kill animals and sometimes humans too. The simplest answer that I could think of is, to conserve our forests! Yes, the presence of tigers in the forests would likely keep the humans at bay as knowing the fact that tigers are roaming in the forests, human wouldn’t enter the forests to save their life. Since many years, the forests have been cut down for human activities. Due to deforestation, the rain forest would soon disappear, which is a source of many items, we use at our home. Food, water and many medicines too are made from the ingredients that are found only in these forests. So, in order to save our forests, we must stop killing tigers who in turn keep some animals and humans at bay because of the fear. So, I feel we should conserve tigers by adequate measures of protection and also in turn preserve our forests.

2. Indian Hog Deer:

The population of Indian Hog Deer has drastically declined over a few years now. They are normally found in tall grassland areas and they prefer open habitats rather than the closed forests. The Indian Hog deer is also considered as an endangered species in India. They are getting extinct and have decreased in numbers. They are being hunted down for their meat and for making some traditional medicines. Indian Hog deer survives on grasses and leaves. They don’t harm humans, but are easily hunted down by them as compared to other deer species as they reside in open habitats and are easily visible to hunters. They are very rare species and they need to be conserved by implementing some conservation measures like giving proper protection to them from hunters. Many organisations have initiated programmes that educate the problems face by these species of animals.

3. Asiatic Elephants:

The population of the Asiatic Elephants has reduced by 50% over the last 60 to 75 years. These mega-herbivore species do not harm humans unless they are provoked or aim to protect their kids. They survive on leaves, grass or fallen fruits. They are classified as endangered species just like the above two species of animals. The biggest threats to Asiatic Elephants is illegal ivory trade for which they are brutally killed. For an elephant, family is very important and a calf’s existence depends upon their mother’s milk for almost first two years of their life. So, sometimes these calves are orphaned because their mothers are brutally killed for many human sly needs. Also, the increase in human population near river valleys and plains has forced elephants to move to less suitable forest areas which are highly dangerous because of hunters, poachers and developers. Also, elephants are killed by farmers as they stray out of the forest into settled areas and damaged the crops and property of humans. Nowadays, elephants are also supplied for industrial and entertainment purposes and later tortured or killed by humans, if they are found of no use to them. So, if the actions are not taken to conserve the Asiatic elephants, which are one of the giant species of animals, soon they will disappear completely.

Due to the greed of humans, we have lost many wildlife species already. So, now let’s save our planet and conserve the wildlife species before it’s too late.